Classes: The Necromancer

Necromancers - Masters of death. With their powerful pets and variety of damage over time spells, necromancers are one of the best solo classes in the game.

What is the best way to play a necromancer? What are the best solo strategies? How should the necromancer be played within a group? How should you develop your necromancer to best take advantage of his abilities? What are the important faction considerations for a necromancer? Which spells work best, and which are not worth their price?

Post your strategies on how to best play and develop the Necromancer and read, rate and comment on what others have to say.

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Necros Vs. MagesFollow

Necros Vs. Mages
#1 Aug 28 2006 at 11:26 AM Rating: Decent
I am returning after quittin EQ right before the PoP release. And i want to play as either a mage or a necro, but i am unsure which to chose.

and as i also cannot find out which races can go these chars, i cant find it on this site, and it has been a while so i cant remember myself.

I jus wanted to know what you think about which is better. Regarding soloing, finding a group, money making.

And also, when i used to play, i liked levelling the early levels near the wood elfs, so i was wondering how faction will affect me.

Thanks
Necros Vs. Mages
#2 Aug 29 2006 at 9:24 PM Rating: Decent
well if you're anything like me you will solo most of the time, won't be in a huge guild that raids, and will like to come and go as you please. you'll like to explore new spots to find a better camps and like the fact that you can fd after accidentally pulling a train and then go afk for as long as you want, hide, stand up, invis, run away and not die (or even use harmshield!!) and if you do group or raid you will make an excellent scout/puller. you'll rarely be out of mana and with your twitching the entire group, neither will they hence the group won't slow down and keep xp rolling in. if you haven't guessed we're talking necro.

wtf is a mage? /em scratches head
Necros Vs. Mages
#3 Sep 05 2006 at 8:51 PM Rating: Decent
U could create both a mage and a necro and play both to 25 and then see which one u enjoyed playing more and go from there. I personally like necro more but thats my personal opinion and I will not try to bash mages and for they are great as well All I can tell u is play both and stick with the one that suits u the best and regardless of what other people say just play what u like.
Necros Vs. Mages
#4 Sep 06 2006 at 9:09 AM Rating: Decent
mages and necros both solo very well, and are both very strong classes. its all about your playstyle, do you wanna for the lack of better words.. blow **** up with decent nukes and have your elemental pet wack away at em, or do you wanna really make a mob beg for mercy when you stack on a few dots, fear em, and have your pet beat away. both can be appealing. i have played both a mage and a necro on the seventh hammer. my necro is 70, and my mage is 60. to be honost i have more fun on my necro, and i tend to be able to solo better as a necro, but that dosnt make necros any better at it. mages can solo quite well, its how you play your class; and i honostly think i play a necro better. think about how you wanna approach your fights, with dots, or with direct damage, and go from there. necros do get some forms of direct damage, their lifetap being one of them, but a mage gets the stronger nukes. keep in mind that necros do get lich, which enables them to gain back their mana faster. as far as race goes, my necro is an iksar, my mage is a DE. i too liked to level in Gfay, theres something about that foresty area, and great exp spots. with the expansion PoP, you really dont have to worry about what race you are, just dont get to close to kelethin if your KOS. i made an iksar for my necro because of their hp regen, helps with the lich ( at lower levels), and a DE for my mage.. because well lets face it, DE's look cool. money making? both can pull in some nice plat at later levels. as far as grouping, i soloed most of the time on my mage and necro, but when i did group, i enjoyed grouping on my necro more. they have more utility to give to a group including twitch, heals( not the best heals, but heals nontheless), awesome damage, and on occasion if we got to many adds i would taptank one of the mobs.. pretty much chaincast litetap, leaving the tank with 1 less mob beating on him, putting less preassure on the tank. now you can get away with that at lower levels, but i find if i try and taptank a WOS mob.. well lets just say its not pretty, they have alot of hp, and hit hard. mages in a group provide good damage with their nukes and pets. having your air pet out helps alot with damage, having the air pet stun means the mob is taking damage while the tank is not. even if the stun lasts for a sec.. thats 1 second the mob didnt have to attack, and that 1 attack could of been a double attack. i find that mages at later levels are used for good DPS, and they get alot of utlity spells as well, pet kits are nice, mod rods, which i dont know if you remember, has a right clicky effect that damages you and returns mana. very nice to have in raids. i can go on and on describing mages and necros, but the choice is yours, i hope some of this info helps in what you decide to make.
Necros Vs. Mages
#5 Sep 06 2006 at 9:03 PM Rating: Decent
"...i tend to be able to solo better as a necro, but that dosnt make necros any better at it.."

i friggen give up
Necros Vs. Mages
#6 Sep 07 2006 at 7:17 AM Rating: Decent
lmao if your going to repley to something i said have the decency to say what you see wrong with what i posted, by you just "copy and pasting" a sentence of what i said only shows that your childish. these posts are opinion related. you didnt even state an opinion with what i said. i wrote what i did to help a fellow player in need. by trying to flame me how does that help with the situation?
Necros Vs. Mages
#7 Sep 07 2006 at 7:30 PM Rating: Decent
and discussing how i very mildly flamed you helps a ton?

try /think
Necros Vs. Mages
#8 Sep 08 2006 at 11:18 AM Rating: Decent
again.. shall i say childish. ima be the man here and stop this useless discusion, hope the info helps you jonsmith
Necros Vs. Mages
#9 Sep 08 2006 at 6:32 PM Rating: Default
:D
you're gonna be the man when we all wanna act like kids who play a game? how about this... i'll be the man and apologize. that make all better? sorry i hurt your feelings and made you cry.
Necros Vs. Mages
#10 Sep 23 2006 at 12:44 PM Rating: Decent
Simple facts-
Necro is better soloer(nothing against mages they can solo fine just not as well as necro's)
Mages do more dps
Necro's have a line of spells to regen mana
Mages summon an item to regen mana
Necro has a well rounded pet
Mages have a pet for any situation
Necro's can make money summoning corpses(for ppl who can't access the guild hall)
Mages can make money summoning items and pet toys(which kick *** for necros lol)
Ect.
All classes in EQ are built to be balanced so it's mostly how you want to play that makes the difference.Personally I'm a necro player but thats cuz my main is a war so I like a toon that I can purely solo. But to each his own right?
Races:
Mage-De,Eru,Gnome(my fave),High Elf,Human
Necro-De,Eru,Gnome,Human,Ikzar
Necros Vs. Mages
#11 Sep 26 2006 at 9:57 PM Rating: Decent
The biggest differences between solo necros and mages: duration of fights & pet use.

Mages have big booms & highest DPS & tank-ability pet, and fights simply are required to be quick due to the limitation of keeping the pet alive. For mages, pets are everything - their defense, escape and to some extent - utility (root/stun). If a mage loses a pet during a solo fight, the only excape options are run/gate/summon another pet. No root, no slow, no snare, no heals, no runes means you have to be extremely attentative and cautious. On the plus side, the DPS a mage can put out for short-medium durations is simply awesome. Having extremely limited self hp/mana regen practically requires mana regen & HP buffs. A mage can solo awesome until the 50s, then picks back up after 60. I've no knowledge post 65.

Necro's rely on DoTs to kill mobs, with pets simply along to add damage & provide the now & again speed bump for engulf resists. With heal over time spells, life taps & feign death...and throw in the highest mana regeneration in the game, corpse summon & 93% rez - they are the ultimate in independance. Depending on the situation pets may actually be a liability & not worth the attention. At the very least, pets are extremely expendable. A necro can kite around mobs with 8 DoTs ticking off silently doing more DPS than any other class in the game - but it takes time, and there is no glory & eye candy to display. As a necro, you can take extreme risks simply because you have so many means to escape death...and should one of those fail - you lose minimal xp. A necro can solo outstanding virtually every level of the game.

So, if you like the idea of everything being all about your pet (dps, tanking, pet gear, etc), and you like eye candy crits - go with the mage. If you are not a pet-centric personality, you will hate it.

If you like the idea of everything being all about your own personal stats, skills & spells, with pet being just a optional backup / added minor dps - go necro.

I've played 'em both; 65 mage w/700+ aa that I stopped w/ release of Omens, and am now enjoying my necro at 67 & starting the aa grind before leveling to the next good pet. Both classes are just awesome in their own ways.
Necros Vs. Mages
#12 Sep 27 2006 at 5:00 PM Rating: Decent
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Play a Magician if you plan on grouping mainly.

Play a Necromancer if you plan on soloing mainly.

They are very different classes.

____________________________
After 16 years, I'm not listing every friggin character.
Necros Vs. Mages
#13 Sep 29 2006 at 5:08 AM Rating: Decent
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124 posts
I have never played a Mage. I cannot comment diretly on them from my own experience.

What Bandoslav said about necromancers sounds very glorifying, but it is entirely true. I rolled my necro a few years ago as my solo casting class. At that time, I wanted to play the most powerful and self-sufficient class. I thought of a mage, but chose a necro. I wanted to gain experience and levels faster than I had gained them before and without a PL.

Even in the sixties, a necro can get xp faster alone than in a group. That has always been true for me and I wouldn't touch xp groups in the 50's. I group to be social, to attain tough drops or to do instances. A necro that gets their xp from a group I find to be lazy, at least up and through the 50's. Necros are very fun and valuable in group situations, don't get me wrong.

I had the most fun doing LDoNs in my low 50's. I often trio'd them with other casters and was essentially the MH/CC and puller. Great fun!
Necros Vs. Mages
#14 Oct 10 2006 at 8:25 PM Rating: Decent
they are both very good at soloing and grouping. Necros are better at soloing, but in a grp they are equal. Mages add more dps to the monster that you are killing in short fights but it comes out the same in a long one. I have a wizard(not exactly the same but close) and a necro, and the wizard seems to get resisted more. The necro also has his own lifetap and will always do better when fighting undead. The mage can do bigger nukes but thats about it....necros are so much more versatile and mages kinda just do dmg. If i had to choose i would say necro, however i am interested in making a mage too. IMO they are the two best classes in the game.
Necros Vs. Mages
#15 Oct 13 2006 at 10:13 PM Rating: Decent
27 posts
Me i am and my best friend we do good has a team lol. He is a mage and me i am a necro. With his dd and my dps we rock i say mage necro eather way u will be rocking but true tho mages is groping and necros are soloing.


Ty all




Nucyk

Necros Vs. Mages
#16 Oct 19 2006 at 8:55 PM Rating: Decent
i hope this helps ..
good luck with what u choose and welcome back to eq =)

Necromancer-
* dps only surpassed by a rogue
* utility in groups is only surpassed by a shaman.
* pets are decent but in no way as sturdy as mage pet.

solo- necros : kite / lifetap & tank / root & rot
(* high-end nec can solo mobs that will eat a mage pet )

groups : DPS. snare, rez ,fd splitting, tap mana/hp/str/ac , mez, root, debuff, fear.corpsecall. & lol: dmf


raids : DPS-DPS-DPS .. kite on some encounters. some rez duty,
+ mind wrack/flay for ur group is a nice thing to do .

down side of the class.. we are often regarded as a mana battery, you will get tells from clerics who blew there mana spammin CH , u will be asked to twitch joe blows gimp bot. if u look at the math : mana dumped vs mana spent) twitching can be a ridiculous waste of ur time and mana. (esp with the new rest state in TSS). join a raid force that understands our role and it wont matter. in groups is more or less not an issue that affects the level of fun u have.

FLAME ON : the math speaks for itself & i am keepin my surname

75th Level Necromancer
Thirteenmoons Deleted'Twitch
EVOLUTIA
Stromm


Edited, Oct 19th 2006 at 10:36pm PDT by thirteenmoons
Necros Vs. Mages
#17 Nov 03 2006 at 1:15 PM Rating: Default
my main is a lvl 74 cleric.. 13k hp and 2300 ac ...about 1300 aa;s... I have the following alts

lvl 58 shammy 55 aa;s
lvl 45 warrior OMG GIMP
lvl 67 sk --- 320 aa's 10k hp
lvl 63 necro --- 52 aa's
lvl 50 mage

I very much enjoy playing all of them depending on how i feel today...

but, with out a doubt.. the necro is the funnest and it took me about 3 weeks to break lvl 50... necros can lvl very easy and make all kinds of cash..

while the mage can solo... he is not as good at it as the necro.. an example
take a lvl 58 mage and necro to TSS stepps zone and kill 1 yellow con spider...

the spiders will eat the mage pet in under 1 minute.. the necro will easy walk over these mobs..

now this isnt to say that mages are by any means weak or not good solo'rs..

but, they are more groupable class than necros are..

necros are the swiss army knifes in EQ.. will mages are like atomic bombs...
a few really good BOOOOOOOOMS lets you know a mages is in the house

Bruur Wrabbit
Heavens Edge
Stormm

Edited, Nov 3rd 2006 at 1:19pm PST by bruur
Necros Vs. Mages
#18 Nov 12 2006 at 4:19 AM Rating: Decent
I have a 66 mage and a 66 necro hands down the necro can do zones mage could only dream of so for soloing necro is the way to go.Now on the hand let tell you how much plat Jaber lvl 66 quadding 110 air pet makes me.My pet makes 1,282 plat per hour.On Sat,Sun i play 20 hrs.Thats 25640 plat in two days work and weekdays 38460 plat 6 hour sessions per weekday.Thats 64100 plat per week x 28 = 256400 plat not bad now once i get new 71 air pet plat rate goes way up.So if you want money making machine make a mage they have the best pets hands down for farming.If you want to exp and farm and solo well make a necro your mage can buy all your necro gear and spells with ease.Dont get me wrong certain mobs you can solo at 66 but the necro just has more options cause of roots,snare,dots,feigh death,self escape portal,shadow step and many other advantages.Necros were made this way for a reason you will solo more than you group i did both and i like both.
Necros Vs. Mages
#19 Nov 14 2006 at 11:08 PM Rating: Decent
It seems like the biggest difference between these two classes while soloing is the ability to deal with adds. A soloing necromancer has options: root adds, snare them all and kite them, pet an add and lifetap tank the other, FD, mez (up to 55), etc etc. Over 55 the necromancer loses some utility but can still deal well with adds solo.

A soloing mage on the other hand has more trouble with a 2 pull. I'm not saying she won't survive the encounter, but those options just aren't there. A mage cannot root, snare or mez, which are really the foundation of crowd control. On a 3 or 4 pull which probably would be a very difficult situation for a necromancer to handle would be fatal for a mage. A necromancer could attempt to employ all of her utility to keep things in check until she could kill them all or FD. A mage would have to try to channel a gate.

I am not bashing mages. Just saying, in my opinion necromancers are more reliable soloers.
Necros Vs. Mages
#20 Nov 21 2006 at 8:19 PM Rating: Decent
Mage's = dps at a high mana cost so will have a little but not as much as before since the TSS expansion brought in Turbo Regen. Mage pets can stun also whichgives a lot of options for Wiz as long as it onlyone mob.

Necro = best solo class along with Druids. Druids just can't FD or split indoors which makes the Necro better in that situation, plus druids don't have good pets and hard to find a dire charm pet in the new zones.

If Mage's could FD then maybe they would be the best solo class since there pets can tank but they have no heal ability and Necro's can heal their pets which can't tank like a Mage pet can.

Personally, I have a 72 DRD, 72 WAR, and 66 Necro that I started in August '06 but don't play it as often as I'd like. I farm aa's in the 69.1 (Hard) I just sit my War down and invis. out of the way and leech XP and solo with my Necro.
Necros Vs. Mages
#21 Nov 21 2006 at 8:19 PM Rating: Decent
Mage's = dps at a high mana cost so will have a little but not as much as before since the TSS expansion brought in Turbo Regen. Mage pets can stun also whichgives a lot of options for Wiz as long as it onlyone mob.

Necro = best solo class along with Druids. Druids just can't FD or split indoors which makes the Necro better in that situation, plus druids don't have good pets and hard to find a dire charm pet in the new zones.

If Mage's could FD then maybe they would be the best solo class since there pets can tank but they have no heal ability and Necro's can heal their pets which can't tank like a Mage pet can.

Personally, I have a 72 DRD, 72 WAR, and 66 Necro that I started in August '06 but don't play it as often as I'd like. I farm aa's in the 69.1 (Hard) I just sit my War down and invis. out of the way and leech XP and solo with my Necro.
Necros Vs. Mages
#22 Nov 28 2006 at 4:27 AM Rating: Decent
If you want to get lots of XP and money, choose necro. If you are a mage you will need to group the high level stuff and /random the loot. Necros don't random unless they feel like entertaining themselves.
Can a mage solo elder mammoths in icefall? Necro can do it without breaking a sweat.
Necros Vs. Mages
#23 Nov 29 2006 at 12:09 AM Rating: Decent
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110 posts
Quote:
If Mage's could FD then maybe they would be the best solo class since there pets can tank but they have no heal ability and Necro's can heal their pets which can't tank like a Mage pet can.


Actually mages can heal their pets. Their first pet heal is Renew elements at lvl 7, and the last heal spell for their pets is at 73 called Renewal of Aenda.
Necros Vs. Mages
#24 Mar 19 2011 at 4:09 PM Rating: Decent
Iwuze wrote:
If you want to get lots of XP and money, choose necro. If you are a mage you will need to group the high level stuff and /random the loot. Necros don't random unless they feel like entertaining themselves.
Can a mage solo elder mammoths in icefall? Necro can do it without breaking a sweat.



Yes brother we can,NP did that for spell drops til i got bored and decided to hunt parchments to make them.We both are awsome at soloing just different fighting styles.Dont really need a group but its fun to hang with peeps.Money and loot? NP either just depends on drops and where your huntin

No disrspect for the Necros.We just different in our hunt styles
Necros Vs. Mages
#25 Sep 07 2013 at 9:38 PM Rating: Decent
It shocks me that no one stated the REAL deal between necro and mage. Necro's can solo, and mages can solo quite well. It's just Mage's aren't nearly as mana efficient doing it as a necro. I'm a 77 necro..only time I ever group is when I want someone to talk too. One of my best hunting partner's is a 84 mage. When we get together..we've slaughtered things most wouldn't dream about.
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